Then the plug was pulled by Minnesota owner Glen Taylor on an agreed-upon trade, canceling a three-team transaction that would have sent Derek Fisher to Minnesota, not Houston, according to an NBA official who is not authorized to speak publicly.

In the nixed deal, the Lakers would have sent Portland the first-round pick they obtained from Dallas in the Lamar Odom trade. Portland would have sent Jamal Crawford to Minnesota, and Minnesota would have sent Anthony Tolliver to Portland. The Lakers and Portland would have also given an undisclosed amount of cash to Minnesota.

Both front offices thought a deal was done but Taylor blocked it.

If that deal would have went through, it could have made the Derek Fisher deal worth it. Since it didn’t happen, however, L.A. sent a leader in Fish to Houston for Jordan Hill who probably won’t make any type of impact on the team.

Beasley would have been a definite upgrade over Metta World Peace and Matt Barnes offensively. Oh well, more shots for Kobe.